ajcalhoun wrote:Chad Morris is headng to Arkansas. SMU's on the hunt again.

I wonder if Morris gets this job if Banks is ruled to have gotten into the end zone. Without that win, SMU is 6-6, not 7-5. Perception-wise, 7-5 is a lot better. Also, Morris's record at SMU would be 13-23. As it is, 14-22 is pretty weak. I think the hire says more about Arkansas than Morris. Regardless, the fact that coaches with these kinds of records are still being hired away from the conference for decent P5 jobs shows the AAC is getting respect as a tough place to play and win. The one thing that has been lacking is ability to show it in bowl games against quality P5s.

Morris brought in his P5 and JUCO mercenaries for a short term pop, which he barely got with the hideous goal line call. He will definitely cash in with the first offer he gets. I agree, him going to Arkansas says a lot more about where Arkansas stands than where Morris stands--similar to the embarrassing fiasco at Tennessee. You look at the bottom half of these P5 conferences, and it just screams for a system of relegation, similar to what England's Premier Soccer League does.

HoustonWave wrote:Morris brought in his P5 and JUCO mercenaries for a short term pop, which he barely got with the hideous goal line call. He will definitely cash in with the first offer he gets. I agree, him going to Arkansas says a lot more about where Arkansas stands than where Morris stands--similar to the embarrassing fiasco at Tennessee. You look at the bottom half of these P5 conferences, and it just screams for a system of relegation, similar to what England's Premier Soccer League does.

In theory, the relagation idea is a very good one. In practice, it's got a snowball's chance in hell of ever happening. I cannot blame Morris for leaving, he's not a young coach and has to take advantage of his opportunities. I don't think his hiring would have changed if he was 6-6 versus 7-5 as I'm sure the AD at Arkansas knew how close he was to being 6-6. But again, I don't fault him at all for taking a higher profile job and a HUGE increase in pay.

" For every alum, no matter where they are...I want a football coach that's going to make Saturday something you anticipate and look forward to." --Troy Dannen

Thank you all for your support as my son Zach continues to beat leukemia

I remain a fan of Chris Scelfo and am surprised he has not had better opportunities. If my memory serves me correctly, he was making good progress here and we won the Hawaii bowl in '02 before Cowen shat the bed with his D1 review in '03 which understandably hurt recruiting, fan support, coaching energy, etc. And then Katrina was the nail in his coffin.

1989alum wrote:I remain a fan of Chris Scelfo and am surprised he has not had better opportunities.

I still like Chris Scelfo and I hate the bashing he gets on this site but you just can't punt on third down.

Welcome to gotula.net, where it's never too late to mention Tanner Lee, Andy Cannizaro, Lindsey Scott Jr., Rich Rodriguez, David Pierce, or, of course, Scott Cowen. You see, no horse here is so dead that it cannot be beaten just a little bit more.

1989alum wrote:I remain a fan of Chris Scelfo and am surprised he has not had better opportunities.

I still like Chris Scelfo and I hate the bashing he gets on this site but you just can't punt on third down.

The third down punt will haunt him, though he's not the first coach to do so (nor will he be the last!) If you read his book about the Katrina season, you'll always appreciate what he did for Tulane football in a year that no coach has ever faced anything close to such adversity. He knew early in the season that his kids, (removed from families and relatives that had suffered devastation and loss of life and living in a dorm that should have seen it's last students years prior, playing 11 road games) were spent. I don't think Chris ranks among the top 5 Tulane coaches for X's and O's, but I think he's the best Coach we've had in terms of helping approximately 100 student athletes deal with a devastating situation totally beyond his, or anyone's control. Rick Dickson's finest hours were in the months post-Katrina and following the Devon Walker injury. I'm not a big fan of either Scelfo or Dickson (less so of Dickson) but their work in these situations should never be overlooked.

" For every alum, no matter where they are...I want a football coach that's going to make Saturday something you anticipate and look forward to." --Troy Dannen

Thank you all for your support as my son Zach continues to beat leukemia

Upon his firing, I emailed Coach Scelfo and thanked him for the wonderful job he did post Katrina. I pointed out to him that he will never have an accomplishment in his life to match that year. He deserves our everlasting gratitude.

SMU should just hire Sumlin or Kiffin (or Meacham!) at this point, but, given how the AAC has made curious hires over the last couple of years (i.e. UCF and Houston), SMU may find a way to bypass big name coaches and hire a nobody.

1989alum wrote:I remain a fan of Chris Scelfo and am surprised he has not had better opportunities.

I still like Chris Scelfo and I hate the bashing he gets on this site but you just can't punt on third down.

He was wholly unqualified for the job when Cowen hired him over RR in 1998 (coached only the OL at Georgia), but just when he was coming into his own as a HC and having won the Hawaii Bowl in 2002, Cowen pulled the rug out from under him for the 2003 review. Then, on August 29, 2005 Katrina struck.

So I do feel sorry for how Cowen treated Scelfo and believe Scelfo certainly did his best under those circumstances and conditions presented by Cowen and came through for Tulane post-Katrina when everyone thought Cowen might use the hurricane as a second chance for ending the football program.

While you're reading these, take a look at the other article set forth below which includes Chad's five biggest wins during his career at SMU - I'll reveal 3 of them for you (beating Tulane, Tulsa, and Cincy all in 2017). Makes Willie's wins against Army and Houston in 2017 look stellar by comparison.

1989alum wrote:I remain a fan of Chris Scelfo and am surprised he has not had better opportunities.

I still like Chris Scelfo and I hate the bashing he gets on this site but you just can't punt on third down.

The third down punt will haunt him, though he's not the first coach to do so (nor will he be the last!) If you read his book about the Katrina season, you'll always appreciate what he did for Tulane football in a year that no coach has ever faced anything close to such adversity. He knew early in the season that his kids, (removed from families and relatives that had suffered devastation and loss of life and living in a dorm that should have seen it's last students years prior, playing 11 road games) were spent. I don't think Chris ranks among the top 5 Tulane coaches for X's and O's, but I think he's the best Coach we've had in terms of helping approximately 100 student athletes deal with a devastating situation totally beyond his, or anyone's control. Rick Dickson's finest hours were in the months post-Katrina and following the Devon Walker injury. I'm not a big fan of either Scelfo or Dickson (less so of Dickson) but their work in these situations should never be overlooked.

Chris Scelfo wrote a book? Oh yeah -- "Things I Learned After It Was Too Late".

1989alum wrote:I remain a fan of Chris Scelfo and am surprised he has not had better opportunities.

I still like Chris Scelfo and I hate the bashing he gets on this site but you just can't punt on third down.

The third down punt will haunt him, though he's not the first coach to do so (nor will he be the last!) If you read his book about the Katrina season, you'll always appreciate what he did for Tulane football in a year that no coach has ever faced anything close to such adversity. He knew early in the season that his kids, (removed from families and relatives that had suffered devastation and loss of life and living in a dorm that should have seen it's last students years prior, playing 11 road games) were spent. I don't think Chris ranks among the top 5 Tulane coaches for X's and O's, but I think he's the best Coach we've had in terms of helping approximately 100 student athletes deal with a devastating situation totally beyond his, or anyone's control. Rick Dickson's finest hours were in the months post-Katrina and following the Devon Walker injury. I'm not a big fan of either Scelfo or Dickson (less so of Dickson) but their work in these situations should never be overlooked.

Chris Scelfo wrote a book? Oh yeah -- "Things I Learned After It Was Too Late".